The Thorn Poppy

Catch Nolan tried to exit the intelligence game, but was drawn back in when offered a job completely divorced from the bureaucrats and politicians. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

That was twentysomething years ago. Now, again determined to quit, a filthy and wild-eyed man approaches him on a Japanese train, claiming that he accidentally created a substance that allows him to see the future. Catch wants to dismiss it as the ramblings of a lunatic.

The problem is that the man is a scientist from Catch's past-and he uses code words only Catch and a few others could possibly know. Based on sketchy credibility, Catch gets embroiled in the worst imaginable nightmare. A truly evil man appears to have acquired the ability to see the future and is bent on world domination.

Murder, assassination, and chaos unfold at the highest levels of governments. The world is tottering on global war. WWIII is imminent. Catch must stop this man regardless of the cost. But how do you defeat an enemy who can see your plans, before you even make them? To defeat this threat, Catch gets so far out of the realm of reason that he creates evil to defeat evil. He must become more despicable than his enemy.

Meanwhile, a small team of "civilians," working with Catch, scramble to find redemption amid the breakdown of law and order.